1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical instruments and more particularly to a syringe, which uses color demarcations on a syringe barrel to increase readability of the volume of fluid in the barrel.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A typical syringe is comprised of several distinct components including a barrel, plunger and cannula or needle.
The barrel, usually made from plastic, having a proximal and distal end, acts as a reservoir for fluid, usually medicine. The proximal end is open to receive a plunger and coupled seal member or cap. The distal end is connected to a cannula or adaptable to a hypodermic needle assembly to permit fluid to be drawn or expelled through the distal end.
The seal member is attached to the plunger and provides a means of creating a liquid tight seal between the seal member and the syringe barrel so that movement of the plunger along the barrel causes liquid to be drawn into or expelled out of the syringe through the distal end. The seal member is moved through the syringe barrel by applying axial force to the plunger.
The plunger is attached to a disc member on the end opposed to the seal member. The disc member creates a surface to apply force to the plunger. The overall length of the plunger exceeds the length of the barrel thereby permitting its operation by engaging the disc member even when the seal member reaches the distal end of the barrel.
Syringes usually contain demarcations such as volume measuring indicia on the side of the barrel to indicate the volume of liquid contained within the syringe. The demarcations are usually black and are easily skewed during operation by a black seal tipped plunger.
Enhancements to standard volume measuring demarcations are desirable to provide a syringe for administrating medication that can be used in a far easier manner than the standard black on black syringe. Many patients that suffer from diabetes or other diseases causing decreased visual acuity could benefit from easy to read volume markers and numbers on a syringe. Diabetics and their caretakers, such as the inventors, frequently experience blurry vision and loss of the ability to distinguish serial lines commonly found on the black on black model of a standard syringe.
Most hypodermic syringe barrels are made of transparent plastic with black volume measuring demarcations along their side walls. The use of alternating color instead of black for the volume measuring increases the user's ability to distinguish between the demarcations. A colored seal member rather the black seal shown in the art would also increase the user's ability to properly read the volume level.
Previous syringes have used a color contrast means integral to the syringe for the purpose of amplifying the volume measuring indicia. Such a device is taught in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,405 to Howe. Howe teaches an opaque color contrast means on the syringe barrel to improve readability of the volume measuring indicia. However., the addition of graphics and opaque members may ultimately skew the view of the volume demarcations whereas coloring the demarcations themselves would not create this hindrance, but would enhance the user's ability to properly gauge the dosage in the barrel. Additionally, the introduction of a colored seal member on the plunger would further aid in accurate measurements of the liquid in the barrel.
Even though the art teaches means for improving the readability of volume measuring indicia on syringes through contrasting means such as opaque coatings, there is still a void in this field that could be filled by the present invention which provides a color enhanced syringe that is easy to read, use and manufacture using existing technology with the addition of strategically placed color demarcations on the barrel of a standard syringe without the use of additional markings on or treatments to the syringe that may obscure the visual field. Using color on the seal member of the plunger as demonstrate by the present invention, improves readability of the volume demarcations when the syringe is filled with fluid.
The disclosed device is a syringe with color volumetric measurement means on the barrel to aid in the reading of fluid volume contained in the syringe. Determining the fluid volume may be facilitated further by the addition of a colored seal member on the plunger to create greater contrast and thus increase readability and accuracy of the volume measurement.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a device, which permits individuals, even those with visual impairments, to accurately gauge the dosage level of a syringe.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an integral means that improves the readability of volume demarcations on a syringe.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce eyestrain of the operator of a syringe when determining the volume of a fluid and/or medication in a syringe.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce errors in the delivery of medication caused from syringe reading errors.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the drawings and specification, which follow.